Prev | Current Page 34 | Next

Stratton-Porter, Gene, 1863-1924

"At the Foot of the Rainbow"

' Mr. Maxwell was pleased to accept that also, with
what I considered high praise, and to ask me to furnish the
illustrations. He specified that he wanted a frontispiece, head
and tail pieces, and six or seven other illustrations. Counting
out the time for his letter to reach me, and the material to
return, I was left with just ONE day in which to secure the
pictures. They had to be of people costumed in the time of the
early seventies and I was short of print paper and chemicals.
First, I telephoned to Fort Wayne for the material I wanted to be
sent without fail on the afternoon train. Then I drove to the
homes of the people I wished to use for subjects and made
appointments for sittings, and ransacked the cabin for costumes.
The letter came on the eight A.M. train. At ten o'clock I was
photographing Colonel Lupton beside my dining-room fireplace for
the father in the story. At eleven I was dressing and posing Miss
Lizzie Huart for the princess. At twelve I was picturing in one
of my bed rooms a child who served finely for Little Sister, and
an hour later the same child in a cemetery three miles in the
country where I used mounted butterflies from my cases, and
potted plants carried from my conservatory, for a graveyard
scene. The time was early November, but God granted sunshine that
day, and short focus blurred the background.


Pages:
22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46